The Veolia Creative Arts Scholarships for 2021 have been awarded to artists Monica Bridge from Goulburn and Libby Wakefield from Bowral. Monica and Libby will each receive a scholarship of $3000 to further their arts practice over the next 12 months.
Monica Bridge is a contemporary Aboriginal artist, with a passion for visual arts, particularly painting, drawing and sculpture. Monica is currently building on her arts collection in preparation for an exhibition at the Bigga Art Gallery in August 2021, and will be supported by the Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship as she works on the exhibition.
Libby Wakefield is a painter and drawer based in Bowral with her practice currently focussed on the local wetlands of the Southern Highlands region. The Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship will assist Libby to produce a new body of work which will be exhibited at Whitehall Arts Projects in Berrima in a solo exhibition in early 2022.
The artists received their scholarships from Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship Patron Jennifer Lamb at a presentation held in Goulburn on Tuesday.
Congratulating Monica and Libby, Ms Lamb told the presentation that the scholarship program was now in its 14th year and had proudly supported 50 local artists across a wide range of creative fields during this time.
“The Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship is one of only a limited number of scholarship opportunities available to rural and regional artists, and I am very proud that since 2008 it has supported 50 local artists to pursue their creative endeavours,” Ms Lamb said.
“The scholarship panel made particular comment of the high quality of the applications received for the two scholarships on offer in 2021, which included artists across a range of fields including painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, playwriting, performing arts production, performance and music production.”
Ms Lamb encouraged artists in any discipline across the region to consider applying for the scholarship in 2022. The Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship program will be accepting applications early next year with dates and further information available at https://www.veolia.com or by phoning (02) 48222786.
